FOI request (FOIR-709238240)

Spending of Government Grant

Requested Fri 25 April 2025
Responded Tue 20 May 2025

I have been asked by the Committee of The Reform UK Hastings and Rye Branch to make application under the Freedom of Information Act for details on the following items.

1. Hastings Council Received a Grant form HM Government in recent years of £20 Million Pounds to enhance the town and the facilities.

2. Hastings Council Received a further input from HM Government to develop the town.

We would like to receive information as to how these monies have been used and to which companies the monies have been paid.

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Response

Town Deal Funding - £24,300,000

Hastings was awarded £24.3m from the Town Deal Grant which was confirmed in November 2021.

The following Projects were awarded funding and £1.215m of revenue was approved to support and administer the programme and completion of monitoring and reporting to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (formerly the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities).

1. Capital Projects Total £23,085,000 (100%)

1.1. Churchfields Industrial Estate – £778,211 (3.4%)

Recipient – Hastings Borough Council

Match Funding - £3,871,468

Churchfields is a new, sustainable green building with 29 business incubation units for the town’s small businesses. The centre has been built to a very high sustainable (BREEAM) standard and features Superfast broadband, extensive energy efficiency measures including a 'green' roof, solar PV and electric vehicle charging points, and is fully accessible. It was opened in March 2023 and over half of the units are currently let with 17 businesses utilising space within the building.

1.2. Broadening Futures Together - £417,121 (1.8%)

Recipient – Education Futures Trust

Match Funding - £270,716

This is a partnership between Education Futures Trust and Plumpton College, with the development of 18,000m2 semi-derelict site and The Firs classroom, situated on Elphinstone Road, Hastings, near Pilot Field. This new education facility offers courses related to the land-based economy. Courses are already underway, and Plumpton College is currently hosting courses at City and Guilds Levels 1 and 2.

1.3. Hastings Co-working and Flexible Office Space - £116,732 (0.5%)

Recipient – Freedom Works Limited

Match Funding - £196,642

The Palace Workshop opened in September 2022 occupying the upper floors of the former Debenhams building in the heart of Hastings Town Centre providing flexible modern workspaces for businesses and freelancers. The focus is on collaboration, curated and peer-support activities within a ‘Media Suite’ space (TV edit: offline and online suites, and a voiceover suite) engaging TV/online production. The space provides private offices, open plan workspace, meeting rooms, encouraging collaboration, rolling out to Freedom Work’s existing membership structures. The Palace Workspace is currently at 80% occupancy and have served over 300 local businesses and freelancers since opening.

1.4. Green Construction, energy, and vehicle training Centre - £2,638,758 (11.4%)

Recipient – East Sussex College Group

Match Funding - £430,011

The Green Centre of Excellence will be a major refurbishment of the East Sussex College Group’s Ore Valley Campus, delivered through high quality retrofitting and refurbishment of existing space at the Campus to create new facilities. The centre will provide a range of new training and skills opportunities locally for 16 to 19 year olds in higher education, and also adults. The curriculum will focus on the installation, design and repair of domestic retrofits of low carbon technologies, large scale commercial solar, smart meters and smart appliances, as well as the servicing and repair of electric hybrid vehicles. The project will support social enterprise in retrofitting and enable the urban regeneration of ‘an existing industrial area’ through the relocation of the project and enable the urban regeneration of industrial spaces through the relocation of the College’s Automatic Training Centre and Construction Industries Training Centre.

1.5. Hastings Castle - £3,461,731 (15.0%)

Recipient – Troika Projects Ltd

This is the flagship, signature project for the whole Hastings Town Investment Plan.

Troika is working alongside Hastings Borough Council on plans for a new visitor centre, restaurant and cafe that will not only connect visitors to the fascinating past of Hastings Castle, but create a cultural destination for the future.

1.6. Town to Sea Creative Quarter - £3,997,203 (17.3%)

Recipient – Hastings Commons (White Rock Neighbourhood Ventures)

Match funding - £4,374,313

This project focuses on the popular White Rock area in Hastings town centre, where in recent years the area has grown as a creative quarter, and The Towns Fund investment is for the further refurbishment of three large and vacant buildings, bringing them back into use. It will increase community engagement within the town through arts, culture, wellbeing and digital services for everyone, especially the next generation.

These interlinked building projects will rescue three buildings (Eagle House, 12 Claremont and the Observer Building).

1.7. Town Centre Core 1a (New Look Building) - £337,000 (1.5%)

Recipient – New River REIT

Match Funding - £722,970

This project re-purposed the old New Look Building in the Priory Meadow Shopping Centre, providing ground floor office space and an extremely successful town Centre Gym via the Gym Group.

1.8. Town Centre Core - £80,157 (0.3%)

Recipient – Hastings Borough Council

This project was cancelled following the first stage investigations revealing a much large scale programme now referred to as the Hastings Town Centre Regeneration Project. This is being progressed independently to the Town Deal.

1.9. Public Realm and Green Connections - £9,754,458 (42.3%)

Recipient – East Sussex County Council

Match Funding - £400,000

The project will transform Hastings town centre, complementing its built heritage with multifunctional spaces that will encourage dwell time and promote wellbeing, through the widespread application of beautiful, ecologically rich and biodiverse horticulture that is cost-effective and simple to maintain. The Hastings Garden Town vision, inspired by Great Dixter’s world-famous philosophy of creative ecology, combines horticultural innovation, biodiverse creativity to transform the public realm as an exemplary project in the region. The project sets out early ideas to improve public spaces in our town centre and make the area more green, attractive, healthy and fun.

The proposal includes infrastructure for improved walking and cycling throughout the town, cycle parklets, general enhanced public realm, infrastructure for markets, events and festivals, and an interwoven lighting and public art project. The objective being to increase dwell time, visitor numbers, generating higher spend and attracting new investment.

1.10. Town Living - £1,038,629 (4.5%)

Recipient – Hastings Commons (White Rock Neighbourhood Ventures)

Match Funding - £1,300,000

The Town Living project has been developed to deliver quality, affordable housing which is highly sustainable and energy efficient. It is focused on improving our town’s housing stock and creating more diversity within the town centre demographics by repurposing and regenerating poor quality housing and/or provision of newly built homes in the town centre.

1.11. Former Debenhams Department Store - £400,000 (1.7%)

Recipients – Moxy Management 2 Ltd and CFEC Limited (formerly C&O Entertainment)

Match Funding - £400,000

This funding was partly for renovations to the Old Debenhams Building and partly for entertainment facilities. Although the Owens Entertainment has closed, much of the funding remains in the fabric of the building and the freeholders, Moxy Management, are actively seeking new tenants.

1.12. Source Park Courtyard Lift - £65,000 (0.3%)

Recipient – Source Park

This was a small amount of funding to improve access to the Court Yard which was previously funded from the Town Deal Accelerator fund.

Further information can be found on the Hastings Town Deal Website:

https://www.hastingstowndeal.co.uk/

2. Further information can be found on our website:

https://www.hastings.gov.uk/regeneration/plan-for-neighbourhoods/